Where Are My Keys?

Gosh, a cynical person might think this was driven by politics..

GM wants Obama out of the car business, offering to buy back 200 million of the 500 million Obama-owned shares.  The folks who continually tell us they don't want to be in the car business won't sell, however.  

Why?

Because at today's prices, the GM "investment" would result in a tremendous loss on the Obama Administration balance sheet.  It would probably be the nail in the coffin that would end an Obama re-election.

So instead of listening to the folks running GM, who say that Government involvement is hurting their reputation and being able to hire the right folks to help turn GM around, Obama will ignore them.

Just to get re-elected.

To make it more clear for those readers in Tucson, he's "saving the US auto industry" by preventing them from doing what it takes to be successful.

Reminds me of the Chicago Teachers abandoning their classrooms for another week, because they feel their new contract will help schoolkids (just not their kids, of course).  If it was an organization run by Republicans, and hundreds of thousands of schoolkids were not in school, how many news stories would we see on the poor kids, hungry to learn, out roaming the dangerous streets of Murder, USA?

Obama has some stones.  He wants to claim credit for saving an industry, but then can't leave the current position of ownership because that would reveal his failure.

These people have no shame.

Brilliant move, Texas..

The Texas State University System is getting ready to launch a $10,000 degree program.  It involves a sort of hybrid method of teaching-some schooling takes place in high school, some at junior college, and the rest at a University:

Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College, an upper-division college in the Texas State University System, has partnered with Southwest Texas Junior College to create a new "10K Scholars Program." Its degree model, which will become available in fall 2013, appears to be something of a hybrid of the previous two models introduced in the state.

Texas A&M University-San Antonio partnered with Alamo Colleges to offer a bachelor’s of applied arts and sciences in information technology with an emphasis on computer security. In order to keep costs down, students must earn an associate's degree while still in high school and then take advantage of the lower costs at one of the Alamo community colleges before proceeding to A&M-San Antonio. At the University of Texas-Permian Basin, a $10,000 degree can be earned entirely at the institution for students who qualify for the new Texas Science Scholar program, essentially providing them a merit scholarship that caps their tuition.

In the Texas State model, the opportunity is available to high school students who graduate with at least a 2.5 GPA and at least 30 hours of college credit completed. Students then spend a year at the junior college before completing their degrees at Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College. The total cost would be capped at $10,000 through deferred scholarships — worth $2,122 — that students earn provided they maintain at least a 3.0 GPA and take 15 hours of classes each semester, allowing them to graduate in three years.

If they meet all those criteria and follow the prescribed path, students can graduate with a $10,000 bachelor’s degree in biology, chemistry or mathematics.

Seems like a pretty good idea to me.  I'm guessing this type of arrangement could be enlarged to cover some of the more common degrees as well.

I think there is also tremendous value in being on a college campus, maturing, learning about yourself, increased responsibility, etc.  Much of what I learned in how to be successful didn't come from a book, but from looking inside myself.  I think a program such as the one Texas is building misses some of that.

Perhaps over time, Big Education can figure out how to lower costs on campus, so students truly get the best of both worlds.

I think it is disgusting that it now costs upwards of $100k to get a degree at an "average" school.  I'm not disparaging anyone here, but a family shouldn't have to pay Harvard-type money to send their kid to Colorado State University.

I recall one of my first business classes at ASU (way back in 1985) had over 500 kids in it.  The teacher stood in front of us in a large "hall" classroom, and had to use a microphone to give his lectures.  Probably half those kids were from out-of-State, and were paying a fortune (in 1985 dollars) to sit in that class.  That class was offered several times a semester, a huge profit generating machine for the school.  I had several other classes my freshman year that were of similar size, generating massive amounts of money for ASU. 

There has to be a better way with higher education.

Pop quiz!

First, read this article on the Aurora Movie Shooter.  Here are a few key passages to help you prepare for the test:

In early June, first-year doctoral student James Holmes stood before professors of neuroscience here for an oral exam that marked the beginning of at least four more years of intense study of how the brain works.

Days later, though, school administrators received an email from Mr. Holmes saying that he dropped out of the program. He didn't give a reason.

...

Yet amid these developments, on July 9, Mr. Holmes also talked of furthering his education while sharing a beer with a neighbor at a local bar.

Interviews with investigators and people who knew Mr. Holmes, from his high-school years to his last days as a student, depict a cerebral, quiet man whom none thought capable of violence. He was described as a disciplined student—playing online videogames only after studying—and often joined group social events. But even those who shared stretches of intimate space with Mr. Holmes, in dorm rooms or graduate-school laboratories, say he was distant and enigmatic.

...

Mr. Holmes graduated in 2006 from Westview High School in one of the best districts in the region. One classmate, now a mortgage underwriter, said Mr. Holmes didn't appear to have many friends in high school and was known among her group as quiet and intelligent.The class of about 550 students was the first at the new high school. Another former student, Jessica Bentley, said Mr. Holmes, "wasn't involved too much. Honestly, he was just quiet."

Mr. Holmes went on to study neuroscience at the University of California, Riverside, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in science in 2010. If he was outstanding in any way, it was for academics: He won merit scholarships to attend UC Riverside, where he was enrolled in one of its most challenging programs. He took courses in biology, psychology and chemistry, according to school officials, students and the school's list of requirements.

"Academically he was at the top of the top," said Timothy White, chancellor of UC Riverside. "He really distinguished himself from an academic point of view during his four years with us, graduating with the highest honors." The school, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, has more than 18,000 undergraduates.

As an undergraduate, Mr. Holmes's course work and after-hours work in the chemistry lab would have focused on biological chemistry and pharmaceuticals, not on chemicals that might be used to make gases or explosives, former UC Riverside neuroscience students said.

Rather, Mr. Holmes's studies focused on how the brain works chemically and psychologically, and the effect that has on human behavior. Mr. Holmes was studying "chemistry and physics, but also brain anatomy and physiology, how we all behave…. It is ironic, and sad," Mr. White said.

Mr. Holmes found a crew of studious students on his floor that appeared a good fit for him his freshman year, hallmates said. He became a fixture socially among the science majors and others. Often, he joined them for dinner and games of Guitar Hero or movie nights to watch Disney films, several recalled.

...

Later in college, Mr. Holmes was a quiet presence in upper-division neuroscience courses and labs. These small classes and labs encouraged students to form tight friendships, but Mr. Holmes remained outside those inner circles for the most part, one person who took several upper-level classes with him said.

"He wasn't the type to have outbursts or anything," this person said. "He was just a really nice guy. He was intelligent. He just wasn't very sociable."

There are no reports he had any contact with university police, school officials said.

Although Mr. Holmes graduated with the highest honors, he didn't attend commencement ceremonies, school officials said.

In June 2011, a year after graduating, Mr. Holmes enrolled in a neuroscience Ph.D program at the University of Colorado, becoming one of six first-year neuroscience doctoral students. During the first year, members were required to take core classes together, many in small conference rooms. According to one classmate, Mr. Holmes rarely spoke unless spoken to. "James was always the first one there in the morning," this person said. "He was very quiet, sometimes pensive, like when you spoke to him it was almost like you were interrupting his thoughts."

Mr. Holmes, a San Diego Chargers football fan, seemed laid back and typically wore jeans and a T-shirt, sunglasses and sneakers, and carried a backpack. The classmate said he never saw Mr. Holmes with a car and that he typically rode a black BMX bike to and from class. Students thought of him as smart, nice and always prepared but considered him somewhat of a recluse, this classmate said.

Mr. Holmes was particularly interested in electrophysiology, the study of the electrical properties of and activity of neurons, this classmate said.

When classes ended in May, the students were required to pass a first-year test referred to as the "prelims." The school said students had to stand before three professors and answer questions.

Shortly after the tests were done, the classmate said, a neuroscience administrator took the group for drinks to tell them Mr. Holmes had dropped out. The administrator said she received a short resignation email from Mr. Holmes that didn't explain why. Some assumed he had gone back to California.

Now for the pop quiz:

Whose college experience do you know more about, Barack Obama, or James Holmes?

Why my daughter will never go to public school, Chapter 132..

Full story here:

 

 

My daughter is reading several grades above her class level..

You know, in private school.  How are the reading scores in the Florida Public School System?

Nearly half of Florida high school students failed the reading portion of the state's new toughened standardized test, education officials said on Friday.

Results this year from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test showed 52 percent of freshman students and 50 percent of sophomores scored at their grade levels.

Students in the 10th grade must pass the exam in order to eventually graduate but can retake it if they fail.

The results came days after the Florida State Board of Education voted to lower the standards needed to pass the writing part of the test, known as FCAT. The test is administered in public elementary, middle and high schools.

The board took the action in an emergency meeting when preliminary results indicated only about one-third of Florida students would have passed this year.

Did you catch that (if you were educated in the Florida School System, you may have missed it)? 

Half the students passed the test only after they lowered the standards!  Had they not lowered them, only a third would have passed.

What a great message we are teaching our kids.  Don't like the results?  Move the goalposts!

I wish the Real World operated like that.  Didn't get the Henderson deal at work?  Maybe your boss will accept you almost getting the lesser-lucrative Johnson deal done as being "good enough", and hand you that commission check anyway.

Weren't able to put out the fire in that five-story building?  Maybe the City can pass an ordinance that fireman don't have to fight fires in structures over three stories tall from now on.

Life is hard.  School is hard.  We aren't helping these kids by making the test easier, we are helping to under prepare them for reality once they get out of school.  Don't lower the standards, raise the expectation on the teachers.  And if the kids aren't pulling their weight, putting in the time and effort required to learn?

 

California should immediately raise taxes to correct this problem..

78% of California 8th graders flunk a national science test.  What's to blame?  Bush, of course:

Other experts said there are a variety of factors that likely contribute to the lackluster results. Many blame the results as an unintended side effect of the federal No Child Left Behind law, which puts more emphasis on math and reading than it does on science, history, arts and other subjects.

I'm glad to see that my State is #6, but even those numbers are awful:

Top 10 Rank	State	% Proficient/ Advanced
1	Massachusetts	44
1	Montana	44
1	North Dakota	44
4	Utah	43
4	Vermont	43
6	Colorado	42
6	Minnesota	42
6	New Hampshire	42
6	South Dakota	42
10	Virginia	40
47	California	22
	Nation	31

Yet another reason why my daughter will never go to Public school.

All California has to do is just raise taxes a wee bit more..

And then these professional graduate students can get their "free" education, as outlined in the Constitution.

California State University is withholding financial aid for about 20,000 needy graduate students - money that pays their tuition - pending a decision that could permanently end the cash grants, The Chronicle has learned.

Graduate students across the 23-campus system began receiving financial aid notices this week and were astonished to see that the State University Grant that takes care of tuition for low-income students was missing. In its place was the offer of a federal loan at 6.8 percent interest.

Let me be perfectly clear here.  I'm not against low-income students getting grant money (when and if it is available).  If those funds aren't available, then there are other methods to get the degree, like student loans.

"But WAMK, if they can't afford college, how can they pay off the student loans?"  Isn't that why they are going to college in the first place?  To get an education that affords the opportunity to gain a higher paying job than working at Wendy's?  Why is it a bad thing for the students to have some skin in the game, and to take some of the risk to gain the larger reward?

The immortal words of Judge Smails also ring in my head at this moment:

 

 

Hey JDJ, you ready for this?

Parents are taking out student loans.  To pay for their kids kindergarten.

I'm no human calculator of financial wizardry, but if you are taking out loans for private kindergarten, then you will also have to take out loans for private elementary school, and private middle school, and private high school, and you better hope your kid gets some crazy super-scholarship to college that includes like a check for $100k, because you will have a shitload worth of loans to pay off before the kid even sets foot on campus.

When I went to ASU, in-State tuition was $495 per semester.  When I graduated, it was $707.  To keep the math easy on a Friday morning, lets say the average semester was $600.  It took me 4 1/2 years to get out (that's 9 semesters to my readers in Tuscon).  $600 x 9 = $5400 to get a degree from a University.

The little Duper goes to a private school, and is in kindergarten.  It's near the bottom of the private school options around us, in terms of tuition.  Her tuition, you ask?

$4700.  For kindergarten.

Yep, it's costing about the same for my daughter to learn the basics for one year, as it did for me to get a college degree.

I don't know if that speaks more to the quality of education my daughter is getting (excellent, by the way), or what I got from ASU (no complaints from me), or just good old inflation.  Maybe a combination of all three.

Revisiting the SAT..

Voluntarily, no less:

I took the SAT a grand total of one time when I was in dipshit prep school. This was 1993. Like any other kid, I wanted to do well on the test, primarily so that I would NEVER have to take it again, but also because kids at my school were real dicks about their SAT scores. You'd hear through the grapevine about other kids who aced the test, and all that test gossip resulted in an great deal of fear and paranoia about your own performance. It was horrible. If you can, avoid going to high school altogether.

They administered the test at a nearby public high school and herded us into the classrooms. Every classroom had a test monitor, a stack of test booklets, and a large box of sharpened No. 2 pencils. My friend Darren sat in front of me. Thirty minutes into the test, he had to go pee. The monitor denied him a trip to the bathroom. Darren ended up getting a 900 out of 1600. That monitor was a dick.

Shockingly, little about the SAT has changed since I set foot in that classroom. Most students still have to take the test using bubble sheets and a No. 2 pencil, which is insane to me. They've managed to digitize VOTING, for shit's sake. And yet here's the SAT, still feeding test sheets into the Scantron machine like it's 1982. Maybe the only differences with today's SAT are the essay question (barf), the higher maximum score (2400), and the hugely metastasized frenzy over the test. Wired reports that as recently as 2009, the test-preparation industry had earnings of over $4 billion.Private tutoring from a Kaplan expert to study for the test can cost you close to $5,000,an expense plenty of nutjob helicopter parents are happy to throw down.

There are many shitty things about being a grownup. You have to make money. You have to do taxes. You have to show up for your bail hearings. It's all really fucking annoying. But one of the few upsides of being an adult is that you NEVER have to take the SAT again. You never have to worry about it. You don't have to give a shit what'll happen if have to pee during the test. You don't have to look at another analogy ever again. It's not bad tradeoff for all the other piddling crap you have to deal with.

Read the whole thing.

Yet another example of why my daughter won't go to public school..

From Rochester, NY:

Mr. Vargas is fortunate enough to have in his charge one Jada Williams, a 13-year-old eighth grader who voluntarily took on some difficult extra work: reading Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life and writing an essay on the subject. Frederick Douglass is dangerous reading, truly radical stuff. Miss Williams, like most of the students in her dysfunctional school, is black. Most of the people being paid to go through the motions of teaching them are white. Coming across the famous passage in which Douglass quotes the slavemaster Auld, Miss Williams was startled by the words: “If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there will be no keeping him. It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.” The situation seemed to her familiar, and her essay was a blistering indictment of the failures of the largely white faculty of her school: “When I find myself sitting in a crowded classroom where no real instruction is taking place I can say history does repeat itself.”

Her teacher was so offended by the essay that she circulated copies of it to the rest of the faculty and to the principal. Miss Williams, an A student, suddenly began to receive Ds. According to accounts, her mother received harassing telephone calls from teachers who suggested that she was in some way disturbed rather than merely observant. She was forced eventually to withdraw from the school and enroll in an even worse one. (The Blaze has more.)

The best Mr. Vargas could say was this: “We could have responded better. This is a situation that was definitely not handled the best way.” To say the least: Teachers refused to show Miss Williams’s mother the schoolwork she had allegedly performed poorly on, and they refused to answer many of her questions about her daughter’s performance and alleged behavioral problems.

The teachers also failed to enter Miss Williams’s essay in the contest for which it was written — intentionally sabotaging her chances at an academic honor.